Difference in AS and a prox bid?

Welcome! Why snipe? Because many people do not bid their max. Trying to get a good price, they tend to bid just enough to stay the high bidder. They do not bid what they are REALLY willing to pay until someone else comes along and outbids them. Then they tend to bid higher. Sometimes this cycle goes back and forth, with two or more bidders (called "nibblers") continually outbidding each other, in an expensive game of one up-manship. But these same nibblers tend to leave their bids alone if no one else outbids them.

That is where snipers come in. Bidder X may have bid $25 on an item, but will go higher if someone outbids him. He may go up to $100 if he feels he has to, in order to win, but leaves his bid at $25, thinking he is getting a better deal. He overlooks the fact that if he bids the $100, he will not pay that amount, unless other bidders puch the auction price up that high. So along comes bidder Y, a sniper, who bids $50 in the last seconds and wins for $26! There is no time for bidder X to come back and raise his bid. He is upset, because he knows that he would have been willing to go higher. Additionally, he does not know that bidder Y's max was $50--all he sees is that he lost the auction for a dollar.

Does sniping work every time? No. There is no magical was to guarantee a win. But eBay is replete with bidders who nibble and do not observe or analyze their own bidding behaviors, and that is why we snipers tend to win.

quote:

And if ulitmately its a high bidder that wins no matter who's bid gets in last, even if a item is only worth $70, wouldn't I be wise to bid $120 just to be on top, knowing I wouldn't actually have to pay more than $80 at best?

*Nuclear* bidding/sniping (what you have described)can be a nasty business...sometimes frustrated (or new) nibblers will get stubborn and just keep bidding. All of a sudden your $120 nuclear bid is getting mighty close to maxed out.

In the past I have placed a few nuclear snipes, for items that are extremely rare and I havent been sure of their worth. Luckily, it has turned out well...sometimes very well.

Sniping is the ONLY way to go if you are going to go nuclear, as Chatter mentioned, most nibblers only up their bid if someone bids past their max, so your nuclear max should be safer with sniping.

For your *rare* item, I would place your snipe for what you think your MAXIMUM is (plus a few cents) and then place a Manual snipe as well. Just beware that if your manual bid wins, AS will still charge you.

Other advantages of sniping....

• Competitive Collectors - apparently some collectors have noticed rival collectors following their username from auction to auction...AS eliminates that as you dont show your interest until the last seconds
• Bid Groups - WONDERFUL feature if the item you are after is plentiful on ebay, you can just keep sniping the same item until you win at the price you want to pay
• Forgetful Bidder - can *set and forget*
• Change-your-mind Bidder - The ability to change/CANCEL your snipe up until the last 5 minutes is great. Once you place your manual bid - you are pretty well locked in if something better comes along.

Some new input, and some already discussed input:

• Shill bidding – a BIG “concern” on ebay. I didn’t say a big “event”, as I don’t think it happens all that much. But, just the thought that it’s possible, is/was enough, at least for me, to get me dreaming up all kinds of conspiracy theories. My first couple of months on ebay, I hate to think about the amount of time I spent “investigating” shills. With most of these conspiracies I came to the conclusion that they weren’t shilling (just some new ebay member learning the ropes), and the ones that were potentially shilling I couldn’t actually prove. Q: So why did I go thru the effort? A: I’m a slow learner. With sniping, a shill doesn’t have a chance to ring up your bid. They can do that to another bidder, but as a sniper, we can at least watch it happening to someone else instead of ourselves (I don’t like to be a part of the “misery loves company” thing).
  
• Bid retractors – oh the joy of watching someone expose your bid amount, especially if it’s a “nuclear” bid. Talk about someone peaking thru the keyhole. And all a bid retractor need have is a phantom (or delinquent) child that places “accidental” bids, and that excuse will work repeated times. This I have had happen to me at least twice (it may have been more, but memory ain’t what it use to be). The more clever retractors will come up with a bid amount that looks like a mistake (decimal in the “wrong” place), so they can expose your bid, and then use the same amount (decimal in the “right” place) to place their real bid.
  
• As Lexie pointed out, you have more time before you place your bid. I don’t understand proxy bidding (other than blocking a BIN), but I really don’t understand making one on the first day the auction starts. Now, for the entertainment value – sure, be the first bidder. But, for the winning value it never seemed like a good idea. And, the earlier you place your proxy bid, and the longer you remain high bidder, the more likely that some other cute little auction will come along, and it may have a BIN that’s cheaper than your bid, or it may have better terms. So, what do you do? You either retract your bid, or you wait it out hoping someone will outbid you, or you possibly lose out on the other auction (none of those options are what I would actually call “options”).
  
• The psychological implications of proxy bidding are somewhat unusual (see Chatter’s discussion on nibblers). Someone may start their bidding at $25. At the beginning of the auction, they would never, NEVER, dream of bidding $100 (at the beginning). As the auction progresses, they slowly “increment” them self up. After all, if they were willing to bid $25 at 1 PM, why not bid $27 at 3 PM – it’s only $2 more. And if at 3 PM it was worth $27, then surely it must be worth $30 at 3:15 PM. And, before you or they know it, they are bidding $100+ and their wife wants to know how they’ll be able to buy groceries.
  
• Of course, anyone that places manual snipes (although no one has mentioned that) really loves self-abuse. I love to hear the stories about someone setting their alarm clock to place a snipe. Now, I don’t mean to belittle (well, sort of) that person, as I’m sure the entire ebay experience is enhanced for them. But, I think that snipers are the kind that aren’t looking for entertainment – they are looking to win the auction. They are more competitive than the average bidder, and they are smart enough to use a tool that allows them to be competitive while spending the least amount of money. When it comes to bidding, they’ll let someone else have the fun, and they’ll take the goodie.

Rick:

I'm not sure I understand all of your terms. What's "shill" bidding? I understand a shill as someone who propagandizes for a product or ideology, but how do they bid?

What are these "phantom child" bidders? How do people retract something with a bad decimal point?

My auction has three hours! I'm gettin' nervous...starting to wonder if I shouldn't reset my bid to my actual maximum. Right now I'm $20 over what I would consider to be a real deal.

Hi Capitalist,

Shill bidding? It’s when the seller uses an alias/extra ebay ID to run up the bid amount. It’s against ebay’s rules, but can be difficult to detect. So, your definition of a shill is pretty close.

Phantom child? It’s my way of saying that they don’t actually have a child, but they just use it as an excuse to place a bid, and then retract their bid. Minors aren’t supposed to bid.

Retract something with a bad decimal point? Lets say the current price of an auction is $100. No one but the high bidder knows what his bid is. So, incomes the bid retractor and places a bid for 1050.00 which will expose the current high bidder’s bid amount. They then retract the bid and say, “Oops, I made a mistake in my bid. Put the decimal in the wrong place (or added an extra zero). Sorry.” Then they place a bid at $105 and it looks like a valid mistake. But, the damage is done. And if they are shilling, that might not be much fun for the high bidder.

Nervous? Well, with sniping you should always bid you “actual maximum” - that which you are willing to pay. For better deal, maybe wait for the next time it appears in an auction.

Hope this straightens out the confusion I caused.

Good luck – like to hear how it goes.

More info on shill bidding

Okay, I sort of inferred what you meant but wasn't sure. The shill bidding thing occured to me, too. It could be a good idea to research a seller's most recent items to see if they seem to attract the same bidders all the time.

I won my item! Woo-hoo! And I was busy at work on the phones while I did it! What a great end to a rough-as-heck work day!

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalist Sniper:
Okay, I sort of inferred what you meant but wasn't sure. The shill bidding thing occured to me, too. It could be a good idea to research a seller's most recent items to see if they seem to attract the same bidders all the time.

I won my item! Woo-hoo! And I was busy at work on the phones while I did it! What a great end to a rough-as-heck work day!

Congrats. Did you snipe or proxy? Did you nuke it or go sensible?

Sniped! KA-POW! I went relatively sensible. I figured the item was worth $150, but put my bid at $201 to be on the safe side. Then I thought better of it and lowered my bid to $180. Wound up getting it at $150, with $20 shipping $170. Its a nice guitar with the hardshell case, shipped, for under $200, so not at all a bad deal! WOO-HOO! Thanks, Auction Sniper!

Sounds like a good deal. Happy strumming

Capitalist,

Good news. If you haven't already seen the "Tips" page, you might want to check it out. The Tips have several good ideas, and there is also a discussion about not bidding in round amounts.

Happy sniping